Oppoöbfu...

Word of the Year: 1885, 2009

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oppoöbfusitionscation

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\AH\poh\AHB\fuh\ZI\shun\SKAY\shun\, noun:

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1. Political tactic in which beneficial public policy is opposed with high-sounding misinformation and illogic.

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2. Any bluff or bluster that presents nonsense disguised as reasoned argument.

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origin: Coined in 1885 by anonymous reporter for the New York Herald to describe the campaign of those who opposed erection of the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor by claiming scientific certainty that government approval of women who raise an arm in public would both attract malarial mosquitoes and destroy the then-flourishing modesty-publishing industry. The term regained popularity in 2009 to describe the campaign in opposition to establishment of universal health care in the United States.